Tables – Managing Page Breaks in Threeparttable with Subtables

page-breakingsubcaptiontablestabularxthreeparttable

My Table includes multiple subtables along with tablenotes at the end and they spend in two pages. I'm try to do page break and I refer to this post, but it was a page break for footnotes only. Here is my code:

\documentclass[12pt]{article}
\usepackage{array, boldline}
\newcolumntype{Q}{>{\centering\arraybackslash}X}
\usepackage{booktabs}
\usepackage{subcaption}
\usepackage{tabularx}

\usepackage{threeparttable}
\begin{document}
\begin{table}
\footnotesize
\caption{Multiple Tables with Page Break}\label{tab:LD1}
\begin{threeparttable}
\centering\addtocounter{table}{-1}%

\begin{subtable}{1\textwidth}
\caption{Table 1}\label{tab:LD1-i}
\begin{tabularx}{\textwidth}{QQQQQQQ}
\toprule
& $c=$0.15 & 0.2 & 0.3 & 0.4 & 0.5 & 0.6 \\
\cmidrule{2-7}
$d=$0.9\tnote{b} & 0 & 0 & 0 & \textbf{0.5} & \textbf{0.5} & \textbf{0.5}  \\
0.8 & 0 & 0 & \textbf{0.5} & \textbf{0.5} & \textbf{0.5} & \textbf{0.5}  \\
0.7 & 0 & \textbf{0.5} & \textbf{0.5} & \textbf{0.5} & \textbf{0.5} & \textbf{0.5}  \\
0.6 & 0 & \textbf{0.5} & \textbf{0.5} & \textbf{0.5} & \textbf{0.5} & \textbf{0.5}  \\
0.5 & \textbf{0.5} &\textbf{0.5} & \textbf{0.5} & \textbf{0.5} & \textbf{0.5} & \textbf{0.5}  \\
0.4 & \textbf{0.5} &\textbf{0.5} & \textbf{0.5} & \textbf{0.5} & \textbf{0.5} & \textbf{0.5}  \\
0.3 & \textbf{0.5} &\textbf{0.5} & \textbf{0.5} & \textbf{0.5} & \textbf{0.5} & \textbf{0.5}  \\
0.2 & \textbf{0.5} & \textbf{0.5} & \textbf{0.5} & \textbf{0.5} & \textbf{0.5} & \textbf{0.5}  \\
0.1 & \textbf{0.5} & \textbf{0.5} & \textbf{0.5} & \textbf{0.5} & \textbf{0.5} & \textbf{0.5}  \\
\bottomrule
\end{tabularx}
\end{subtable}\qquad

\begin{subtable}{1\textwidth}
\caption{Table 2}\label{tab:LD1-ii}
\begin{tabularx}{\textwidth}{QQQQQQQ}
\toprule
& $c=$0.15 & 0.2 & 0.3 & 0.4 & 0.5 & 0.6 \\
\cmidrule{2-7}
$d=$0.9 & 0 & 0 & 0 & 0.3692 & 0.3761 & 3799  \\
0.8 & 0 & 0 &  0.3798 & 0.3866  & 0.3901  & 0.3923   \\
0.7 & 0.3732  & 0.3840 & 0.3927  & 0.3965  & 0.3986  & 0.3998   \\
0.6 & 0.3903 & 0.3957  & 0.4006  & 0.4028  & 0.4040  & 0.4048  \\
0.5 & 0.3998 & 0.4028  & \textbf{0.4056}  & \textbf{0.4070}  & \textbf{0.4077}  &     
\textbf{0.4082}  \\
0.4 & \textbf{0.4056} & \textbf{0.4074 } & \textbf{0.4090 } & \textbf{0.4098}  &     
\textbf{0.4103}  & \textbf{0.4106}   \\
0.3 & \textbf{0.4093} & \textbf{0.4103}  & \textbf{0.4112}  & \textbf{0.4117}  & 
\textbf{0.4120}  & \textbf{0.4121}   \\
0.2 & \textbf{0.4117} & \textbf{0.4122}  & \textbf{0.4127}  & \textbf{0.4129}  & 
\textbf{0.4131}  & \textbf{0.4132}   \\
0.1 & \textbf{0.4132} & \textbf{0.4134}  & \textbf{0.4136}  & \textbf{0.4137}  & 
\textbf{0.4138}  & \textbf{0.4138}   \\
\bottomrule
\end{tabularx}
\end{subtable}\qquad

\begin{subtable}{1\textwidth}
\caption{Table 3}\label{tab:LD1-iii}
\begin{tabularx}{\textwidth}{QQQQQQQ}
\toprule
& $c=$0.15 & 0.2 & 0.3 & 0.4  \\
\cmidrule{2-5}
$d=$0.9 & 0 & 0 & 0 & 0  \\
0.8 & 0 & 0 &  0 & 0.2769   \\
0.7 & 0 & 0.2789  & 0.2937 & 0.2996      \\
0.6 & 0.2932 & 0.3017  & 0.3090  & 0.3122    \\
0.5 & 0.3098 & 0.3142  & 0.3183  & 0.3202   \\
0.4 & 0.3196 & 0.3220  & 0.3244  & \textbf{0.3255}  \\
0.3 & \textbf{0.3257} & \textbf{0.3270}  & \textbf{0.3283}  & \textbf{0.3290}  \\
0.2 & \textbf{0.3295} & \textbf{0.3302}  & \textbf{0.3309}  & \textbf{0.3312}  \\
0.1 & \textbf{0.3318} & \textbf{0.3321}  & \textbf{0.3324}  & \textbf{0.3326}  \\
\bottomrule
\end{tabularx}
\end{subtable}\qquad

\begin{subtable}{1\textwidth}
\caption{Table 4}\label{tab:LD1-iv}
\begin{tabularx}{\textwidth}{QQQQQQQ}
\toprule
& $c=$0.15 & 0.2 & 0.3 & 0.35  \\
\cmidrule{2-5}
$d=$0.9 & 0 & 0 & 0 & 0  \\
0.8 & 0 & 0 &  0 & 0   \\
0.7 & 0 & 0  & 0.2623 & 0.2648      \\
0.6 & 0.2637 & 0.2730  & 0.2810  & 0.2823    \\
0.5 & 0.2829 & 0.2876  & 0.2919  & 0.2927   \\
0.4 & 0.2939 & 0.2965  & 0.2989  & 0.2993  \\
0.3 & 0.3007 & 0.3021  & 0.3034  & 0.3037  \\
0.2 & 0.3049 & 0.3056  & 0.3063  & 0.3064  \\
0.1 & 0.3074 & 0.3077  & 0.3081  & 0.3081  \\
\bottomrule
\end{tabularx}
\end{subtable}

\begin{subtable}{1\textwidth}
\caption{Table 4}\label{tab:LD1-iv}
\begin{tabularx}{\textwidth}{QQQQQQQ}
\toprule
& $c=$0.15 & 0.2 & 0.3 & 0.35  \\
\cmidrule{2-5}
$d=$0.9 & 0 & 0 & 0 & 0  \\
0.8 & 0 & 0 &  0 & 0   \\
0.7 & 0 & 0  & 0.2623 & 0.2648      \\
0.6 & 0.2637 & 0.2730  & 0.2810  & 0.2823    \\
0.5 & 0.2829 & 0.2876  & 0.2919  & 0.2927   \\
0.4 & 0.2939 & 0.2965  & 0.2989  & 0.2993  \\
0.3 & 0.3007 & 0.3021  & 0.3034  & 0.3037  \\
0.2 & 0.3049 & 0.3056  & 0.3063  & 0.3064  \\
0.1 & 0.3074 & 0.3077  & 0.3081  & 0.3081  \\
\bottomrule
\end{tabularx}
\end{subtable}

\begin{tablenotes}
\footnotesize
\item[1] Blah blah Blah blah Blah blah Blah blah Blah blah Blah blah Blah blah Blah blah Blah blah Blah blah Blah blah 
\item[2] Blah blah Blah blah Blah blah Blah blah Blah blah Blah blah Blah blah Blah blah    
\end{tablenotes}
\end{threeparttable}
\end{table}
\end{document}

Best Answer

It looks like the first three tabular-like environments will fit on one page, while the final two tabular-like environments will fit on another. To address your formatting objectives, I suggest you (a) use two separate table environments, with a \ContinuedFloat directive at the start of the second table environment, (b) use just one subtable environment per table environment, (c) embed the threeparttable environments inside the subtable environments, and (d) provide separate tablenotes environments at the end of each threeparttable environment. Separately, as there seems to be no need for automatic line wrapping within cells, I would also (e) switch from using tabularx environments to using tabular* environments for the five (sub)tables.

\documentclass[12pt]{article}
\usepackage[letterpaper,vmargin=1in]{geometry} % set page parameters as needed
\usepackage{array,booktabs}

\usepackage{subcaption}
\captionsetup[table]{skip=0.5\baselineskip}
\captionsetup[subtable]{skip=0.25\baselineskip}

\usepackage[flushleft]{threeparttable}

\begin{document}

\begin{table}[p]
\setlength{\tabcolsep}{0pt} % let LaTeX figure out the intercolumn whitespace

\caption{Multiple Tables with Page Break}
\label{tab:LD1}

\begin{subtable}{1\textwidth}
\begin{threeparttable}

\caption{Table AA}\label{tab:LD1-i}
\begin{tabular*}{\textwidth}{@{\extracolsep{\fill}}ccccccc}
\toprule
& $c=0.15$ & 0.2 & 0.3 & 0.4 & 0.5 & 0.6 \\
\cmidrule{2-7}
$d=0.9$\tnote{a} & 0 & 0 & 0 & \textbf{0.5} & \textbf{0.5} & \textbf{0.5}  \\
0.8 & 0 & 0 & \textbf{0.5} & \textbf{0.5} & \textbf{0.5} & \textbf{0.5}  \\
0.7 & 0 & \textbf{0.5} & \textbf{0.5} & \textbf{0.5} & \textbf{0.5} & \textbf{0.5}  \\
0.6 & 0 & \textbf{0.5} & \textbf{0.5} & \textbf{0.5} & \textbf{0.5} & \textbf{0.5}  \\
0.5 & \textbf{0.5} &\textbf{0.5} & \textbf{0.5} & \textbf{0.5} & \textbf{0.5} & \textbf{0.5}  \\
0.4 & \textbf{0.5} &\textbf{0.5} & \textbf{0.5} & \textbf{0.5} & \textbf{0.5} & \textbf{0.5}  \\
0.3 & \textbf{0.5} &\textbf{0.5} & \textbf{0.5} & \textbf{0.5} & \textbf{0.5} & \textbf{0.5}  \\
0.2 & \textbf{0.5} & \textbf{0.5} & \textbf{0.5} & \textbf{0.5} & \textbf{0.5} & \textbf{0.5}  \\
0.1 & \textbf{0.5} & \textbf{0.5} & \textbf{0.5} & \textbf{0.5} & \textbf{0.5} & \textbf{0.5}  \\
\bottomrule
\end{tabular*}

\bigskip
\caption{Table BB}\label{tab:LD1-ii}
\begin{tabular*}{\textwidth}{@{\extracolsep{\fill}}ccccccc}
\toprule
& $c=0.15$ & 0.2 & 0.3 & 0.4 & 0.5 & 0.6 \\
\cmidrule{2-7}
$d=0.9$ & 0 & 0 & 0 & 0.3692 & 0.3761 & 3799  \\
0.8 & 0 & 0 &  0.3798 & 0.3866  & 0.3901  & 0.3923   \\
0.7 & 0.3732  & 0.3840 & 0.3927  & 0.3965  & 0.3986  & 0.3998   \\
0.6 & 0.3903 & 0.3957  & 0.4006  & 0.4028  & 0.4040  & 0.4048  \\
0.5 & 0.3998 & 0.4028  & \textbf{0.4056}  & \textbf{0.4070}  & \textbf{0.4077}  &     
\textbf{0.4082}  \\
0.4 & \textbf{0.4056} & \textbf{0.4074 } & \textbf{0.4090 } & \textbf{0.4098}  &     
\textbf{0.4103}  & \textbf{0.4106}   \\
0.3 & \textbf{0.4093} & \textbf{0.4103}  & \textbf{0.4112}  & \textbf{0.4117}  & 
\textbf{0.4120}  & \textbf{0.4121}   \\
0.2 & \textbf{0.4117} & \textbf{0.4122}  & \textbf{0.4127}  & \textbf{0.4129}  & 
\textbf{0.4131}  & \textbf{0.4132}   \\
0.1 & \textbf{0.4132} & \textbf{0.4134}  & \textbf{0.4136}  & \textbf{0.4137}  & 
\textbf{0.4138}  & \textbf{0.4138}   \\
\bottomrule
\end{tabular*}

\bigskip
\caption{Table CC}\label{tab:LD1-iii}
\begin{tabular*}{\textwidth}{@{\extracolsep{\fill}}ccccc}
\toprule
& $c=0.15$ & 0.2 & 0.3 & 0.4  \\
\cmidrule{2-5}
$d=0.9$ & 0 & 0 & 0 & 0  \\
0.8 & 0 & 0 &  0 & 0.2769   \\
0.7 & 0 & 0.2789  & 0.2937 & 0.2996      \\
0.6 & 0.2932 & 0.3017  & 0.3090  & 0.3122    \\
0.5 & 0.3098 & 0.3142  & 0.3183  & 0.3202   \\
0.4 & 0.3196 & 0.3220  & 0.3244  & \textbf{0.3255}  \\
0.3 & \textbf{0.3257} & \textbf{0.3270}  & \textbf{0.3283}  & \textbf{0.3290}  \\
0.2 & \textbf{0.3295} & \textbf{0.3302}  & \textbf{0.3309}  & \textbf{0.3312}  \\
0.1 & \textbf{0.3318} & \textbf{0.3321}  & \textbf{0.3324}  & \textbf{0.3326}  \\
\bottomrule
\end{tabular*}

\bigskip
\footnotesize
\begin{tablenotes}
\item[a] Blah blah Blah blah Blah blah Blah blah Blah blah Blah blah Blah blah Blah blah    
\end{tablenotes}
\end{threeparttable}
\end{subtable}

\end{table}


%% allow a page break to occur

\begin{table}[p]
\setlength{\tabcolsep}{0pt}

\ContinuedFloat

\caption{Multiple Tables with Page Break, continued}

\begin{subtable}{1\textwidth}

\begin{threeparttable}

\caption{Table DD}\label{tab:LD1-iv}
\begin{tabular*}{\textwidth}{@{\extracolsep{\fill}}ccccc}
\toprule
& $c=0.15$\tnote{b} & 0.2 & 0.3 & 0.35  \\
\cmidrule{2-5}
$d=0.9$ & 0 & 0 & 0 & 0  \\
0.8 & 0 & 0 &  0 & 0   \\
0.7 & 0      & 0       & 0.2623  & 0.2648  \\
0.6 & 0.2637 & 0.2730  & 0.2810  & 0.2823  \\
0.5 & 0.2829 & 0.2876  & 0.2919  & 0.2927  \\
0.4 & 0.2939 & 0.2965  & 0.2989  & 0.2993  \\
0.3 & 0.3007 & 0.3021  & 0.3034  & 0.3037  \\
0.2 & 0.3049 & 0.3056  & 0.3063  & 0.3064  \\
0.1 & 0.3074 & 0.3077  & 0.3081  & 0.3081  \\
\bottomrule
\end{tabular*}

\bigskip
\caption{Table EE}\label{tab:LD1-v}
\begin{tabular*}{\textwidth}{@{\extracolsep{\fill}}ccccc}
\toprule
& $c=0.15$ & 0.2 & 0.3 & 0.35  \\
\cmidrule{2-5}
$d=0.9$ & 0 & 0 & 0 & 0  \\
0.8 & 0 & 0 &  0 & 0   \\
0.7 & 0      & 0       & 0.2623  & 0.2648  \\
0.6 & 0.2637 & 0.2730  & 0.2810  & 0.2823  \\
0.5 & 0.2829 & 0.2876  & 0.2919  & 0.2927  \\
0.4 & 0.2939 & 0.2965  & 0.2989  & 0.2993  \\
0.3 & 0.3007 & 0.3021  & 0.3034  & 0.3037  \\
0.2 & 0.3049 & 0.3056  & 0.3063  & 0.3064  \\
0.1 & 0.3074 & 0.3077  & 0.3081  & 0.3081  \\
\bottomrule
\end{tabular*}

\bigskip
\footnotesize
\begin{tablenotes}
\item[b] Blah blah Blah blah Blah blah Blah blah Blah blah Blah blah Blah blah Blah blah Blah blah Blah blah Blah blah    
\end{tablenotes}
\end{threeparttable}

\end{subtable}

\end{table}
\end{document}

Related Solutions

[Tex/LaTex] Problem with subcaptions in subtables

You could use a tabular* environment, as is done in the table below, to force the tabular material to take up the full width of the text block. By setting \tabcolsep (the parameter that governs the default amount of inter-column whitespace) to a very small value and providing additional, flexible whitespace via an @{\extracolsep{\fill}} directive, the tabular* environment will take up exactly the assigned width (usually, \textwidth).
I further suggest you use the dcolumn package and its tools to align the numerical data columns on their decimal points. Doing so will also make LaTeX use typographically correct "minus" symbols instead of text-mode dashes whenever a - is encountered.
To get a line break between "Table 1" and the caption, use the tools of the caption package (see the code below for the exact tools deployed).
I suggest you also use the subcaption package and assign each of the two tabulars to a separate subtable environment. That way, you can assign a caption to each subtable and cross-reference the subtables individually, as needed. Subcaptions are very helpful as "signposts" for your readers.
If you need the tools of the threeparttable environment, note that it's possible to have embed a threeparttable environment within a subtable environment.
A final suggestion: Don't use the basic but not-so-capable \hline directive to draw horizontal lines. Instead, consider using the much more sophisticated macros of the booktabs package: \toprule, \midrule, \bottomrule, and \cmidrule. You'll find that macros provide much better spacing around the horizontal lines.

enter image description here

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[margin=1in]{geometry}  % choose margins here
\usepackage{threeparttable}
\usepackage{booktabs} % for \toprule, \midrule, \bottomrule, and \cmidrule
\usepackage[labelsep=newline,% line break after label
   justification=raggedright,
   singlelinecheck=off]{caption}
\usepackage{subcaption} % for subtable environment
\usepackage{dcolumn}
\newcolumntype{d}[1]{D{.}{.}{#1}}

\newcommand\mc[1]{\multicolumn{1}{c}{#1}} % handy shortcut macro

\begin{document}

\begin{table}[ht!]
\setlength\tabcolsep{0.1pt}  % default value: 6.0pt

\caption{Earnings Surprises and Cumulative Returns}
\label{tab:surprises}

\begin{subtable}{\textwidth}
\caption{Sorted by investment rating} \label{tab:byrating}
\begin{tabular*}{\textwidth}%
  { @{\extracolsep{\fill}} l *{3}{d{5.0}} *{3}{d{2.4}} 
      *{2}{d{5.0}} *{2}{d{2.4}} @{} }
\toprule
Rating
& \multicolumn{3}{c}{N} & \multicolumn{3}{c}{mean} 
& \multicolumn{2}{c}{N} & \multicolumn{2}{c}{mean}  \\
\cmidrule{2-4} \cmidrule{5-7} \cmidrule{8-9} \cmidrule{10-11}
& \mc{SUE1} & \mc{SUE2} & \mc{SUE3} 
& \mc{SUE1} & \mc{SUE2} & \mc{SUE3} 
& \mc{CASC} & \mc{BHAR} & \mc{CASC} & \multicolumn{1}{r@{}}{BHAR} \\
\midrule
AAA & 731 & 731 & 613 & 0.0004 & 0.0004 & 0.0104 & 688 & 726 & 0.0002 & -0.0084 \\
A & 3865 & 3865 & 3455 & -0.0013 & -0.0007 & 0.0002 & 3424 & 3827 & 0.0003 & 0.0027 \\
BBB & 6308 & 6313 & 5711 & -0.0017 & -0.0009 & 0.0000 & 5512 & 6252 & 0.0003 & 0.0060 \\
NIG & 3166 & 3172 & 2825 & 0.0006 & 0.0019 & -0.0054 & 2685 & 3080 & 0.0000 & 0.0148 \\ [1ex]
All & 14070 & 14081 & 12604 & -0.0010 & -0.0001 & -0.0007 & 12309 & 13885 & 0.0002 & 0.0063 \\ [1ex]
Inv.\ Grade & 10904 & 10909 & 9779 & -0.0014 & -0.0007 & 0.0007 & 9624 & 10805 & 0.0003 & 0.0039 \\
Spec.\ Grade & 3166 & 3172 & 2825 & 0.0006 & 0.0019 & -0.0054 & 2685 & 3080 & 0.0000 & 0.0148 \\ 
\bottomrule
\end{tabular*}
\end{subtable}

\bigskip\bigskip
\begin{subtable}{\textwidth}
\begin{threeparttable}

\caption{Sorted by period} \label{tab:byperiod}

\begin{tabular*}{\textwidth}%
  { @{\extracolsep{\fill}} l *{3}{d{5.0}} *{3}{d{2.4}} 
      *{2}{d{5.0}} *{2}{d{2.4}} @{} }
\toprule
Period\tnote{a}
& \multicolumn{3}{c}{N}  & \multicolumn{3}{c}{mean} 
& \multicolumn{2}{c}{N} & \multicolumn{2}{c}{mean}  \\
\cmidrule{2-4}  \cmidrule{5-7}  \cmidrule{8-9}  \cmidrule{10-11}
& \mc{SUE1} & \mc{SUE2} & \mc{SUE3} 
& \mc{SUE1} & \mc{SUE2} & \mc{SUE3} 
& \mc{CASC} & \mc{BHAR} 
& \mc{CASC} & \multicolumn{1}{r@{}}{BHAR} \\
\midrule
2004 & 1747 & 1748 & 1487 & 0.0023 & 0.0031 & 0.0006 & 1342 & 1741 & -0.0003 & 0.0214 \\
2005 & 1727 & 1728 & 1513 & 0.0022 & 0.0009 & 0.0006 & 1420 & 1707 & -0.0002 & 0.0066 \\
2006 & 1646 & 1648 & 1473 & 0.0002 & 0.0015 & 0.0011 & 1431 & 1624 & 0.0002 & 0.0045 \\
2007 & 1594 & 1595 & 1427 & -0.0085 & -0.0075 & -0.0039 & 1329 & 1573 & 0.0014 & -0.0136 \\
2008 & 1545 & 1545 & 1414 & -0.0303 & -0.0163 & -0.0172 & 1429 & 1527 & 0.0042 & 0.0132 \\
2009 & 1492 & 1494 & 1384 & 0.0163 & 0.0064 & 0.0011 & 1400 & 1482 & -0.0049 & 0.0297 \\
2010 & 1471 & 1473 & 1357 & 0.0115 & 0.0112 & 0.0037 & 1332 & 1458 & 0.0005 & -0.0042 \\
2011 & 1445 & 1445 & 1303 & 0.0056 & 0.0059 & 0.0048 & 1326 & 1417 & 0.0024 & -0.0108 \\
2012 & 1403 & 1405 & 1246 & -0.0076 & -0.0062 & 0.0040 & 1300 & 1356 & -0.0010 & 0.0079 \\ [1ex]
All & 14070 & 14081 & 12604 & -0.0010 & -0.0001 & -0.0007 & 12309 & 13885 & 0.0002 & 0.0063 \\[1ex]
pre-crisis & 5120 & 5124 & 4473 & 0.0016 & 0.0019 & 0.0008 & 4193 & 5072 & -0.0001 & 0.0110 \\
crisis & 3139 & 3140 & 2841 & -0.0193 & -0.0118 & -0.0105 & 2758 & 3100 & 0.0028 & -0.0004 \\
post-crisis & 5811 & 5817 & 5290 & 0.0066 & 0.0044 & 0.0034 & 5358 & 5713 & -0.0008 & 0.0058 \\ 
\bottomrule
\end{tabular*}

\begin{tablenotes}
\item[a] A subtable-specific footnote
\end{tablenotes}

\end{threeparttable}
\end{subtable}

\end{table}
\end{document}

Just for the comparison, here's how the table looks like when using your original code (which also requires loading the graphicx package, not loaded in the code above). Proceeding more or less from top to bottom, some of the main differences relative to the look above are: table caption is centered and on a single line; no (sub)captions for the two subtables; very tight spacing (too tight, really) between \hlines and material in the following row; very little space -- 4pt, to be exact -- between the \cline instructions; the numbers in the data columns are centered rather than aligned on their decimal points, and the occasion minus signs are rendered improperly as simple dashes; the two tabular environments have different widths.

enter image description here

Tables – Fix Threeparttable Not Working with Subcaption(Subtable), Error: Table Inside Subtable

The problem is that the caption package redefines the threeparttable environment to set the caption type to table. caption uses the caption type to check for inappropriate nesting. In this case, it therefore finds an attempt to set caption type to table when it is within the subtable environment. It knows that isn't allowed, so it gives an error.

The simplest solution, especially if some of your threeparttables are not of type subtable, is to use the fact that it works if you put the subtable inside the threeparttable. Alternatively, you can just set the caption type within the threeparttable environment rather than using the subtable environment at all.

However, as your update points out, this sadly restarts the counter for each sub-table. Here is a solution which avoids this difficulty.

Note that the idea here is that you could change the options for threepartsubtable specifically, just as you could change them for threeparttable. I think there must be a way to do this more elegantly, but have not yet found one.

That is, I have precious little clue ...

Caveat emptor.

[Edited in light of comments, although not really in accordance with them.]

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{threeparttable}
\usepackage{subcaption}
\makeatletter
\newcommand\threepart@subtable{% based on code modified from caption.sty
  \caption@setoptions{threepartsubtable}%
  \caption@ORI@threeparttable
}
\newenvironment{threepartsubtable}{%
  \threepart@subtable
}{%
  \endthreeparttable
}
\makeatother
\captionsetup[threepartsubtable]{subtype}

\begin{document}
\begin{table}
  \centering
  \caption{Standard main caption}
  \begin{subtable}{\textwidth}
    \caption{Caption}
    \begin{tabular}{cc}
      a & b
    \end{tabular}
  \end{subtable}
\end{table}

\begin{table}
  \centering
  \caption{Main caption}
  \begin{threepartsubtable}
    \caption{Caption}
    \begin{tabular}{ccc}
      test 1 & test 1 & test 1
    \end{tabular}
  \end{threepartsubtable}

  \begin{threepartsubtable}
    \caption{Caption}
    \begin{tabular}{ccc}
      test 2  & test 2 & test 2
    \end{tabular}
  \end{threepartsubtable}

  \begin{threepartsubtable}
    \caption{Caption}
    \begin{tabular}{ccc}
      test 3 & test 3 & test 3
    \end{tabular}
  \end{threepartsubtable}

  \begin{threepartsubtable}
    \caption{Caption}
    \begin{tabular}{ccc}
      test 4  & test 4 & test 4
    \end{tabular}
  \end{threepartsubtable}
\end{table}
\begin{table}
  \centering
  \caption{Another main caption}
  \begin{threepartsubtable}
    \caption{Caption}
    \begin{tabular}{ccc}
      test 5 & test 5 & test 5
    \end{tabular}
  \end{threepartsubtable}

  \begin{threepartsubtable}
    \caption{Caption}
    \begin{tabular}{ccc}
      test 6  & test 6 & test 6
    \end{tabular}
  \end{threepartsubtable}
\end{table}


\end{document}

Best Answer

Related Solutions

[Tex/LaTex] Problem with subcaptions in subtables

Tables – Fix Threeparttable Not Working with Subcaption(Subtable), Error: Table Inside Subtable

Caveat emptor.

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